FARMINGVILLE, n.y. — Stranded for hours on a snow-covered road, Priscilla Arena prayed, took out a sheet of loose-leaf paper and wrote what she thought might be her last words to her husband and children.

She told her 9½-year-old daughter, Sophia, she was "picture-perfect beautiful." And she advised her 5½-year-old son, John: "Remember all the things that mommy taught you. Never say you hate someone you love. Take pride in the things you do, especially your family. ... Don't get angry at the small things; it's a waste of precious time and energy. Realize that all people are different, but most people are good."

Arena, who was rescued in an Army canvas truck after about 12 hours, was one of hundreds of drivers who spent a fearful, chilly night stuck on highways in a massive snowstorm that plastered New York's Long Island with more than 30 inches of snow, its ferocity taking many by surprise despite warnings to stay off the roads.

Even snowplows were mired in the snow or blocked by stuck cars, so emergency workers had to resort to snowmobiles to try to reach motorists. With many still stranded hours after the snow stopped, Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged other communities to send plows to help dig out in eastern Long Island, which took the state's hardest hit by far in the Northeast storm.

"The storm hit at a time when commuters were making their way back from the city, inching along" on the Long Island Expressway, said Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone. "The snow just swallowed them up. It came down so hard and so fast."

Many workers didn't have the option of leaving early Friday, said Arena, 41. She left her job as a sales account manager at an optical supply business in Ronkonkoma about 4 p.m., driving her crossover SUV. She soon found herself stuck in Farmingville.

"Even though we would dig ourselves out and push forward, the snow kept piling, and therefore we all got stuck, all of us," she recalled later at the Brookhaven Town Hall, also in Farmingville, where several dozen motorists were taken after being rescued.

On Saturday, New Englanders began the back-breaking job of digging out. About 650,000 homes and businesses across the region were left without electricity, and some could be cold and dark for days. Many roads across the New York-to-Boston corridor of 25 million people were impassable.

At least five deaths in the U.S. were blamed on the overnight snowstorm, including an 11-year-old boy in Boston who was overcome by carbon monoxide as he sat in a running car to keep warm while his father shoveled Saturday morning.

Boston's Logan Airport was not expected to resume operations until late Saturday night.

Around the New York metropolitan area, many victims of Hurricane Sandy were mercifully spared another round of flooding, property damage and power failures.

"I was very lucky, and I never even lost power," said Susan Kelly of Bayville. "We were dry as anything. My new roof was fantastic. Other than digging out, this storm was a nice storm." As for the shoveling, "I got two hours of exercise."

Related numbers

38

Inches of snow on the Interstate 95 corridor between New York City and Maine

650,000

Homes without power across the Northeast at the storm's peak Friday night

5

Deaths attributed to the storm

Affected states

Connecticut: The National Guard is helping clear snow in New Haven, which got 34 inches. Power failures affected 38,000 homes and businesses. A woman in her 80s was killed Friday in Prospect by a hit-and-run driver as she was clearing snow, Gov. Dannel Malloy said.

Maine: Portland set a record snowfall of 31.9 inches, the National Weather Service said. About 12,000 homes and businesses lost power.

Massachusetts: Boston was blanketed in up to 2 feet of snow, falling short of the city's record of 27.6 inches set in 2003. An 11-year-old boy died of carbon-monoxide poisoning as he sat in a running car to keep warm. More than 400,000 customers lost power.

New York: Police used snowmobiles to reach ambulances, firetrucks, police vehicles, some snowplow trucks and passenger vehicles stranded overnight on the Long Island Expressway. About 10,000 homes and businesses lost power on Long Island, which saw as much as 2½ feet of snow. Two deaths were blamed on the storm.

Rhode Island: Residents were urged to stay off roads to allow crews to clear up to 2 feet of snow. About 180,000 customers lost power. The Associated Press